Davies earns second POW

South Dakota State women's tennis student-athlete Ffion Davies earned her second Player of the Week honor after another 4-0 week.

The Jacks split two close meets, but Davies was dominant in both with two singles wins at No. 2 and two doubles wins at No. 1.

In Friday's meet versus Creighton, SDSU was edged 4-3, but Davies was a winner in two matches. Davies defeated Analese Snyder 6-3, 6-2 in singles and teamed with Jenny Blackburne for a solid 8-3 win versus Anna Kirshenbaum and Snyder at the top doubles spot. The Jacks won the doubles point, but the Bluejays rallied and won the meet with four singles wins.

On Monday, SDSU opened its spring trip in Florida with a 4-3 win versus Ohio Dominican. The Panthers won the team doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3, but Davies and Blackburne won in major fashion once again, defeating Carla Leggett and Anita Girizd 8-2 at No. 1.

In singles, the Jacks needed to win four singles matches to win the meet and that is exactly what happened. Davies led the way and reached
double-digit wins on the season, the first SDSU player to do so, with
her 10th win in 12 matches. She made it a clean sweep versus Leggett
with a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 2.

"For a freshman, Ffion has been remarkably consistent," head coach Michael Engdahl said. "She has been working hard on focusing her energy on being competitive in every point and it is resulting in some great wins. For our entire program, it is great to see the hard work people are putting in starting to pay off. We are earning every win and award the right way and it is great to see."

The wins upped
Davies' singles record to 10-2 and a perfect 6-0 mark at No. 2. Davies
and Blackburne are 8-4 at the top doubles spot.

It is Davies second POW honor this season, making it the second of her young career. She was honored after she posted a 4-0 record in her collegiate debut. The release of her first award is available on GoJacks.com.

The win pushed the Jacks' record to 6-6. SDSU continues its spring trip in Florida on Tuesday versus Presbyterian.